Playing Patience

Twenty-Three



Zeke



I kept picturing myself beating the shit out of every guy she talked to with my guitar. I had to be careful with thoughts like that seeing as how I’d actually done it, but seeing her openly flirt with all those a*sholes at The Pit was driving me nuts. It was no less than I deserved, but it f*cking sucked.

No matter how pissed off I was, I couldn’t let it take me over. We were sure there was a record executive in the crowd watching us and I wouldn’t be the reason our chance was ruined.

I couldn’t stop looking at her. For one, I kept an eye on her just in case some a*shole took it a little too far and two, I missed her so much and the fact she’d been ignoring me drove me bat-shit crazy. I’d never had a woman refuse me. Go figured the one I gave a shit about would do it.

I stayed on stage playing even though every nerve in my body screamed to go down there and get her. She was dressed like never before. The denim miniskirt she wore was just long enough to cover her ass and the black top barely covered her tits. She looked f*cking delicious and all I could think about was getting her alone and tasting every piece of exposed flesh.

By the time our set was over, I had a massive hard-on pressing against my jeans and my blood pressure felt like it was about to burst my eyes. The fact that she occasionally looked up and cut her eyes at me or sucked on her beer bottle like it was a cock let me know she knew what she was doing. Her show was for me, and I’d be sure to let her know what I thought of her show as soon as I could.

At Finn’s house, I waited for the opportunity to get her alone and once I did, I learned some very important things. One, angry makeup sex was the best kind. Two, Patience was a freak. She ripped at my skin and growled and I f*cking loved it. The sweet, shy girl was replaced by a seductive goddess and that goddess liked it rough.

The most important thing I learned was that she loved me. I had an idea that she cared about me, but I wasn’t sure it was love she felt.

Her face when I confessed I was in love with her was priceless. Her eyes lit up in shock and a tiny smiled played at her lips. She was flushed from our wild sex. A tiny sheen of sweet shined on her forehead and above her top lip. She looked amazing and satisfied, but more than anything, she looked happy.

“I love you, too,” she whispered.

And just like that I was a taken man. My heart would always belong to Patience and as long as she would have me, I was hers for the taking.

“Come home with me tonight,” I said as I caressed her waist with my thumb.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“If you don’t stop doing that, I’m going to want more.” She grinned up me.

I chuckled.

“Baby, I’ll give you anything you want.”

“Anything?” she asked with a raised brow.

“Anything.” I leaned in and softly kissed her.

And I would, too. I’d make sure from this point on not to screw up when it came to my snowflake and no matter what, I wanted to make her happy.

We held hands on the way to my apartment and we barely made it to my room before we were at it again. This time it was up against my bedroom door with my pants around my ankles and her skirt around her waist. She was insatiable and wild, and I loved seeing her with so much happy freedom.

The next morning, I woke before her and watched as she slept peacefully in my bed. Her platinum locks were spread across my pillow and occasionally she let out a soft snore. As I looked down at her, I knew I was the happiest I’d ever been in my life. It would never get any better than this.

I ran my fingers through her hair and she moved closer to me with a soft moan. I lay there with my fingers in her curls and contemplated my next move. Once I graduated, I would go to work. Selling drugs had to stop. A drug dealer was no good for Patience and I wanted to be good for her.

The drinking had to slow down too. I was headed on a one-way track to being my father, and I’d have myself admitted somewhere before I became a disgusting alcoholic like him. There were many changes I wanted to make, things that were good for me and things that were good for Patience.

I didn’t realize she was awake until I felt her softly kiss my chest. I pushed her hair from her face as she nipped at my nipple ring. I loved having her mouth on me and I hissed out loud when she sucked the ring between her lips.

“You’re trying to kill me, woman. Will you at least feed me before you take advantage of me again?” I smirked down at her and ran my finger down the side of her face.

“Feed me he says,” she joked. “Didn’t you get enough to eat last night?”

I threw my head back and laughed. I’d created a monster, a sexy, soft-skinned monster that was slowly starting to straddle me.

“I’ll never get enough of you,” I said against her lips as she leaned down and started to kiss me.

Thirty minutes later, Tiny was beating on my wall and telling us to shut the f*ck up. Two hours later, we were in my car headed to her house. She had on my clothes and wet hair from the shower. I was sure her screams combined with the bathroom acoustics left a fabulous impression on the people in the apartment next to us.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go in with you?” I asked as I drove her to her house.

She needed clothes and girlie stuff and while she looked hotter than shit in my boxers and T-shirt, she couldn’t wear that stuff out.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’m just going to run in, get some clothes and stuff, check on my mom, and then I’ll be right out. Fifteen minutes… tops.”

She gave me a sweet peck on the lips before she jumped out of my car and ran up the sidewalk to her front door. She disappeared inside the white mansion and I sat in my car listening to Radiohead and tapping the steering wheel.

I looked down at my radio clock and fifteen minutes later, she still hadn’t come out. I didn’t think anything of it, but once thirty minutes passed, I got out of my car and walked up to the front door. She’d told me to stay put, but something wasn’t right. She would have at least texted me and told me it would was going to be longer.

I knocked at the front door, but no one ever came. My nerves were jumping around inside me and my instincts were telling me something was definitely wrong. I reached out and tried the knob and the door popped open. I guess when you lived in a neighborhood like this one, locking your front door wasn’t important.

I walked into the massive space and looked around at all the expensive furnishings. As I continued to walk, I passed a living room and an office. I heard voices nearby so I followed them and found myself in the kitchen.

I saw Patience and her father talking. They didn’t know I was there and while most people would have announced themselves, I was seriously thinking of backing out and going to the car. Now that I saw she was fine, I was more worried about the governor getting pissed about me walking into his house without being invited in. Patience was my girl now, and the last thing I wanted to do was piss off her dad or end up in jail again.

I started to back away, but something odd struck me. The way his hands were touching her. He was too personal. Not the kind of personal a father was to his kids, but the kind of personal a man was to his woman. It made me sick to watch.

She reached up and batted his hand away and his eyes got angry. Then I took a good look at her face and I saw fear there. She was afraid of him and his hands, and just like that, I knew. All the pieces of Patience were clear to me and slowly I collected them.

I thought back to her shyness and the way she freaked out about being touched. I thought back to the guilt I saw on her face when I gave her an orgasm in my car that first time. Her constant need to rush home, the bruises, it all made sense to me now. Then something else hit me and I thought for sure I was going to be sick. Patience wasn’t a virgin. I’d been with a virgin before and she definitely hadn’t been one, yet before, she would barely let me touch her. There was no way in hell she’d had sex with another person unless it was forced her on. Her dad sexually molested her. It was all so clear to me now and I couldn’t even believe I hadn’t seen it before. Her father touched her inappropriately. That bastard touched my Patience.

He jerked her up and spun her around over the kitchen table. She kicked and fought back, but never made a sound. He started to pull down her shorts, and just like that I wanted to kill him. He had to die. He deserved to die.

“You got about two seconds to get your f*cking hands off of her before I come over there and kill you.” My voice echoed in the kitchen.

Both of their heads snapped in my direction and he let her go instantly. There should’ve been relief in her eyes, but all I saw was her starting to panic even more.

“You sick son of a bitch.” I started across the kitchen.

Patience jumped in front of me before I could get to him and I stopped and looked down at her. Her eyes were wide and she placed her hands on my cheeks.

“Everything’s fine, Zeke. Come on, let’s just go.” She talked to me like I was about to jump from a cliff.

“No! Everything’s not f*cking fine. That bastard’s been molesting you, hasn’t he?”

I knew I was being loud and I didn’t give a shit.

She started shushing me and I looked down at her like she was crazy.

“Don’t tell me to be quiet.” I was getting even angrier that she was still afraid of him.

She never needed to be afraid again. I’d kill the son of a bitch if he even looked at her the wrong way.

“Don’t be scared of him, snowflake. If he even thinks about touching you, I’ll kill him.” I looked him dead in his eyes when I said it.

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about, young man.” He attempted to deny it. I got even louder and Patience shushed me again.

“Why are you telling me to be quiet? Who gives a shit who knows? He needs to go to jail, Patience. He belongs in jail.”

“Zeke, please stop. My mom will hear you.” Her eyes filled with tears.

And then another thing became clear to me. She was hiding it because of her mother. Her mom was dying and Patience, being the most selfless person I knew, would rather hold on to the dark secret than to let her mother die knowing what was happening to her.

“You need to leave,” her dad said sternly.

“No, what I need to do is come over there and beat you to death.” My chest pressed up against Patience’s tiny palms as I felt myself losing control.

“I have a gun in my desk drawer that says you need to leave,” he snapped with angry eyes.

Then I felt myself moving toward him. A threat was a threat and he’d just thrown one down on me. I stood toe to toe with him and I enjoyed the fear that crept into his eyes.

I felt Patience tugging at my arm.

“Please, Zeke, please just go,” she said over and over again.

I didn’t blink as I stared into his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

I wasn’t. There was no way in hell I was leaving her in that house with that f*cker. Especially considering I’d probably just made things worse for her.

“Fine.” She was panicking. “Please, just let’s go.”

And then I was backing away from him as she pressed against my chest with her hands. My eyes never left his face. I’d never wanted to rip the flesh from someone so badly in my life.

I didn’t breathe again until we were in my car. I turned to her and she stared back at me with wide eyes.

“You should’ve told me.” I wanted to cry.

The sadness I felt for her combined with the raw anger I felt toward her dad was overwhelming.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

I pulled her to me and held her in my arms as she started to cry.

“Don’t ever apologize to me for anything. If anything, I should apologize. Had I known I would’ve handled things differently.”

The front of my shirt was getting wet from her tears. I pushed her hair from her damp cheeks and kissed her forehead. I vowed in that moment to take care of her. There was no way in hell I was letting her go back to that house, not until that f*cker was under the jailhouse or dead.

I pulled away and looked down at her. “Where’s your little sister?”

I hadn’t even thought about her little sister. She spilled her guts. Right there in the front yard of death and the devil. She told me about the years of being abused, about finding out the governor wasn’t her father, and about her fears for Sydney. She explained that she didn’t think he’d touch Sydney because she was really his. I didn’t buy it. He was obviously a sick man and sick men could give a shit less about who their victim was.

Still, she said she kept a close eye on her sister and only stayed away when her sister did. It was strange finding out these things about Patience, things that made who she was even more understandable. We’d both grown up in f*cked-up environments and we’d both saved each other. We were meant to be together and I’d soothe her hurt the same way she’d soothed mine.

“I understand if you never want to touch me again,” she said through tears.

I looked down at her like she was crazy.

“That, you will never have to worry about,” her lips felt soft and moist against mine when I gently kissed her. “Let’s get you home.”

I pulled out of the driveway.

“Home?” she asked.

“Yes, home. No way am I letting you come back here. We’re going to go home, figure out what our next step should be, and then we’re calling the police.”

“I can’t, Zeke. It would kill my mother.”

“You can’t guarantee he’ll never touch your little sister, snowflake, and you can’t follow her around until she’s old enough to move out. You have a life to live too—one that I hope you’ll share with me. Do this for her? Please, do this for us.”

She looked down at her hands and nodded. I pulled her closer to my side as I drove back to the apartment.